Betty Missiego

Beatriz Teresa "Betty" Missiego Campos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbeti miˈsjeɣo]; born 16 January 1945 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian singer, who holds dual Spanish citizenship since 1972 and lives in Spain.

In her native country (Peru), Betty began her career as a dancer, but she had to halt her career due to an injury. She continued pursuing a career in show business, more specifically, she was a host for a television program that brought her great popularity in her native Peru.

In 1969, she moved to Spain to pursue a singing career where she received Spanish citizenship in 1972. She currently holds dual citizenship in both Spain and Peru.

In 1972, she represented Peru in the first Festival OTI de la Canción, held in the Auditorio del Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones in Madrid (Spain) on 25 November, with the song "Recuerdos de un adiós".

In 1979, she represented Spain^[1] in the 24th annual Eurovision competition held in Jerusalem (Israel) on March 31 with the song "Su canción". Betty was accompanied by four children (Javier Glaria, Alexis Carmona, Beatriz Carmona, and Rosalía Rodríguez) who sang 157 las in the song, a Eurovision record.^[2] At the end of the song, the children unfurled small banners, with "thanks" inscribed on each in English, Spanish, Hebrew and French, respectively. Betty ended up in 2nd place with 116 points, behind Israel's Gali Atari and Milk and Honey with the song "Hallelujah". She also participated in the World Popular Festival in Tokyo and the Music Olympics in Paris. In 1980 she submitted another song, "Don José" to the Spanish selection committee for Eurovision but it did not make it to the finals in The Hague.

Betty's son Joaquín Missiego (known by his mononym "Missiego"), became a successful singer.

References

1. Simon Barclay (2010). Eurovision Song Contest - The Complete & Independent Guide 2010. Simon Barclay. p. 176. ISBN 978-1-4457-8415-1. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
2. Info on children from Diggiloo Thrush